Face cap



March l5, 1960 E, J, RozANsKl .2,928,151

FACE CAP Filed MarOh 7, 1956 i L :je l l' F|G.| 'L- --l I ,2z-M i/f /I/5 050/3 WML( il fr a ff w I I a l L-w r-w fl i I /IO /5 A3@ /3 /7 /z /5,Z E 1f f5@ HG2 r 24 /4 :I "l

2f un 2@ FIG-3 IN V EN TOR.

BY www ATTO RNEYS United States Patent l FACE CAP Edward J. Rozanski,Oakville, Conn., 'assigner Ato The Patent Button Company, Waterbury,Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application March 1, 1956, serialNo. 569,986

s claims. (ci. zit-9o) groups of material commonly referred to asplastics. One v of the most common methods for retaining an insert on aface cap is to' employ Ya ring of metal, such as a bezel, about theperiphery of the insert and face cap to clamp the cap and inserttogether between portions of the bezel. When the cap and insert is laterassembled with er ICC material commonly known asfplastic. In accordancewiththevinvention, the head portionv 12 is comprised of a atvbase vorshoulder portion 14 on which the insert is mounted. The base extendsradially of the shank 11 at y one end thereof and a peripheral retainingring 15 preferably integral with the base extends from the peripherythereof. As can be seen from the drawings, the retaining ring 15 whenassembled with an insert has a generally C shaped radial cross sectionwherein one leg 15a of the retaining ring is curved downwardly andoutwardly Vof the base 14 and other leg 15b is curvedupwardly andinwardly thereof. This C shaped cross section of the retaining ringforms an annular concave or Vbight portion 16 depending from the baseabout the outer periphery thereof and spaced from the insert 13. wherebya narrow lip portion of bottom 13a of the insert extends beyondlor-overhangs the ,base 14 and is unsupported thereby. The; legu15b of`the retaining ringis tapered toward its free` end 17,'-'a portion ofwhich isclampingly engaged with the insert 13 to retain the insertwithin the head portion. In accordance with the invention, and forreasons which will be hereinafter apparent, the peripheral surface18f`0f the insert which is engaged by the leg 15b a socket or stud witha thickness of material such as cloth therebetween, it is usuallynecessary to apply pressure to the socket vor stud and to the portion ofthe bezel engaging the insert in order to compress the cloth and connectthe cap to the stud or socket. The assembly pressure necessary for thisoperation varies more or less proportionately to the thickness of vclothused, and where the cloth is relatively thick, it often occurs that theinsert is fractured by the crushing force imposed thereon. This latterproblem has heretofore impeded the use of face caps with plastic insertsfor a snap fas-V tener assembly where the material on which the fasteneris to be mounted is comprised, for example, of four or live thicknessesof heavy material such as used in dungarees and also hasresulted inundesirably frequent repeat assembly operations even where relativelylight material is used due to the inadvertent application of assemblypressures higher than is necessary.

It is therefore the object of this invention to provide a face caphaving a novel and improved means for retaining a non-metallic insertthereon whereby fracture of the insert is effectively preventedduring'assembly of the face cap and insert or during assembly of theface cap with insert with a snap fastener socket or stud.

Other objects will be in part obvious, and in part pointed out more indetail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of Y die 20 isprovided with a concave recess receiving and of the retaining ring isinclined or tapered upwardly and inwardly of the insert at an includedangle of less than 90 degrees.

Y There is shown in Fig. l, in phantom outline, a typical means forassembling the insert 13 within the head 12.l

A die in "which the face cap is inserted is generally indicate at 20Vanda pressure piston is indicated at 21 having'` an internal coaxiallydisposed back-uppiston 22. The

supporting the bight portion 16 of the face cap, and as is construction,combination of elements and arrangement of v Fig. l is a cross sectionalview of a face'cap embody-A ing this invention with a plastic insertassembled therewith; and 1 Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the facecap? of Fig. 1 lassembled with a typical socket with materialtherebetween; l a

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of a typical Vmating stud assembly foruse with the face cap and socket assembly of Fig. 2.. Y

With reference to the drawings, a snap fastener face cap constructed inaccordance xwith/this. invention is generally indicated at 10, and iscomprised of a cylindrical shank 11 and a cup-like head portion 12 inwhich is reeeived an insert 13, fabricated froinbrittle non-metallicapparent the remainder of the face capis spaced from the die toassure'that any force between the die and face cap will be transmittedonly through. the bight portion 16. As can be seen in Fig. 1 the crosssection of the retaining ring 15 kis J shaped (as shown in thedottedline portion) prior lto assembly with an insert and the pressureYpiston 21 is suitably formed to engage rthe outer surface of the leg 15badjacent the free end thereof to move this portion of thering from thevdotted lineposition to the solid line position wherein the insert 13will be clampingly engaged by the free end portion of leg 15b. Thematerial fromv which the face cap is fabricated is of course preferably`ductile to permit permanent deformation of the leg 15b into clampingengagement with the insert. The taper in the leg 15b, hereinbeforereferredy to, effectivelyreduces thecross section of the leg 15b in thearea thereof which is clamped over the insert thus reducing the amountof assembly pressure necessary.,

The cross sectional thickness of thebight portion Y16 however issufficient to'withstand the high'forces imposed thereon in assembly ofthe face cap with a socket, as will be hereinafter more 'fully'explained. Y

Inasmuch as the application of assembly force, as described above, is onthefree end portion of the leg 15b and on the bight portion 16 andinasmuch'as the portion ofthe insert directly below the point of forceon thet leg 15b is not supported by the base 14, there is no tendencyfor the insertvto be crushed between the leg 15b and the base. Theprovision of the inclined surface 18 on the.

" insert assures that the forces imposed thereon by the material 24 suchas cloth disposed betweenvthesocket4 leg 15b will be directed for themost part radially` of the insert and further. that if an excessiveforce is used the free end 17 of the leg 15b vwill be displaceddownwardly along thesurface 18, thus leffectively reducing the bendingstress on the unsupported portion of the insert.

With referenceto Fig.` 2. the face cap 10 is shown in' assembledcondition withaconventional socket assembly 25 of well-knownconstructionv and with a thickness of assembly and the base of the facecap. It is of course understood that the face cap might be assembledwith a stud such as shown at 216 in Fig. 3 rather than with a socket'assembly 25. YThe stud 26 is shown in Fig. 3 merely for illustrationpurposes, mounted to Va'thickness of material 27 in a well-known mannerby means such as the eyelet'28.

The assembly of the face cap with the socket assembly is accomplished ina manner much similar to the die and pistonl arrangement shown inphantom outline in Fig. l whereby the free end 2 9 of the shank iscrimped over a portion of the socket assembly as at 3Q with the material24 interposed between Athe face cap and socket. During this yasseinbiyoperation, and par-V ticularly wherein a relatively thick'layer ofmaterial or a plurality of thinner layers of niaterial'are used, it isoften necessary to nutilize, a' relatively large force to assemble theelements. H'sVv an example, incertain applications it has been foundthaty such'assenibly forcl'ems'f can be as high as:120U"punds.""With'previously developed face caps having plasticinsertsf'as" explained above, it has bee practically impossible toutilizesuch a high YforceV without crushing the insert. However, with aface cap constructed in accordance with this invention wherein theinsert isl not subjected to a direct crushing force, as was explainedabove in connection with the assembly of the insertwithin the face cap,it is possible to utilize assembly forces at least as high as'l200pounds without fracture of the insert. s

VIt is to be noted that the annular bight portion 16 formed inaccordance with the invention about the outer periphery of the base 14serves an important purpose during assembly of the face Cap andsocketother than as mentioned above. During the' assembly of the face cap and4socket, it has been found that when the end 29 of the shank is turnedover'as at 30, the base 14 where it joints the shank tends to buckletowards the insert, thus resulting inv the portion of the base 14adjacent the retaining ring 12 moving downwardly or away relative to theinsert. The provision of the annular bight portion 16 serves tostrengthen the base and preclude or at least minimize this undesirabledeformation thereof. It is of course obvious that the provision of thebight portion 16 is equally applicable to and advantageous when usedwith face caps not having` the novel means of insert retention presentherein.

Even if' it should happen that the base does deforrn slightly asdescribed, the provision of the inclined surface 18 of the insert willipermit the leg 15b of the retaining ring to moveV downwardly therealongwith the result that theleg 15b will be exed slightly outwardly. The re'siliency of the retaining ring will, of course, cause the retaining ringto remain in firm clamping engagement with the insert in its newposition.

Itis'also to beY noted that with a face cap constructed inV accordancewith this invention the disposition of the bight portion i6 of the facecap results in effectively forming a recess, as at 31, in the base' 14which serves to' reduce the amount of compression of the material 2d`which-is necessary to properly assembly the facecapand socket andpermits the material 24`toowjfreely without causing an unsightlybunching. v

Asl many changes could be made in. the above con`` struction and manyapparently widely:different` embodiments of this invention could bevmade without departing'fronitlie scope thereof, it is nten'dedthat` allmatter; contained in the above description or. shown Yin theajc'comizmny-ingdrawings` shall beV interpreted as illustrative andv'not' in a limiting sense. Y

It'is alsov to beunderstood that the language used in the followingtcl'ainisfis] intended tof cover all' of. `'the generic* andspecicfeatures ofr` the invention herein describedj aridi` allr statementsofthe scope ofV thevl invenf tion which, as a matter of language, mightb'e saicltoY fall therebetween.

I claim: I i Y l. A face ca'p of the type'that is forced through ma#terial into holding' engagement with a socket comprising a unitary bodyand flat bottomed insert retained therein, said unitary body having adepending shank adapted to be driven through the material to engage thesocket and a dat integral shoulder extending radially outwardly fromsaid shank and engaging the bottom of said insert to form a bearingsurface therefor, said shoulder having a narrow peripheral groove formedtherein at its outer edge and facing toward the flat bottom of saidinsert thereby to provide a narrow unsupported peripheral insert edge,said insert having an inwardly beveled upper edge in vertical alignmentwith the unsupported peripheral bottom edge, and an inwardly directedarcuate retaining portion integral with and extending upwardlyirom the,Outer @dst-.nf Said v10eripheiel 'g'N/,SC flgsl liivifi it." if vd CVCrass Seda te der'lje a tap the beveled upper edge df sid shoulder, saidtapered end being in vertical alignment with the peripheral groove insaid shoulder. t l v y' 2. A face cap of the typeY that is4 forcedthrough niaterial into holding engagement with a socket comprising aunitary generally tubular body and a flat bottomed insert retainedtherein, said unitary body having a tub`ular depending shank adapted tobe driven through the material to engage the s'ofcket, and a flatintegral shoulder extending radially outwardly from said dependingfastening portion and engaging the bottoni of said insert to form abearing surface therefor', said shoulder lia'ving a narrow peripheralgrveformd therein at its,l outer edge and facing towards the flat bottomof said insert thereby tol provide a narrow unsupported peripheralinsert edge, said in Sfer't having" an" inwardly beveled upper edge invertical alignment with theunsupported peripheral bottorn'edg'e', and aninwardly directed arcuate retaining ring integral with and extendingupwardly from the outer edgeof said peripheral groove andy having" itsupper endfre'duced in cross section to define a tapered end inengagement with the beveled upper edge of said insert', the mutuallyengaged portions of said tapered endand said insert being in verticalalignment with the peripheral groove in said shoulder. s l

3. A face cap of the type that is forced through material into holdingengagementwith a socket comprising a unitary generally tubular body anda flat bottomed insert retained. therein,` said unitary body having atubular shankv adapted to be driven throughthe material to engage thesocket and; a flat integraly shoulder extending radially outwardly fromthe end of said` shank, a narrow peiipheral groove formed in saidshoulder at its outer edge and facing towards the` flat bottom of saidinsert, said shoulder engaging the bottom of said insert from the inneredge of` said peripheral groove to the outer edge of the shank therebyto `provide aV narrow unsupported peripheral insert edge, said inserthaving an inwardly beveledy upper edge. invertical alignment with theunsupported peripheral bottomjedge, and an inwardly directed arcuatelretaining ringintegral with and extendingl upwardly from the outerl edgeofi saidperipheral groove and having its upper end reduced in` crosssection to define a tapered endV in engagement' with the beveledupperwedge of said insert, said tapered end being in vertical alignmentwith the peripheral groovein said shoulder.

References Cited inY theV file of4 thisfpatent UNH-En srATs'PArhrs'1,471,809- schmid sc- Oct- 23, 1:9231 1,592,663l Ha11ihanj.' July 13,1926'

